style.com: style file, fgi’s rising star awards

There was small talk in at least three languages at the mid-morning cocktail hour preceding Fashion Group International’s Rising Star Awards luncheon today, but Bellini, apparently, translates—good thing, since the fashion talent being honored hails from locales as far as Iran (Nima Taherzadeh), Australia (Michael Angel), and Nepal (Prabal Gurung). Fellow nominees Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs registered on the low end of the nerves spectrum before the ceremony—mostly, it seemed, due to social shell shock. “We’ve been working all week on the collection, and coming to an event like this in the middle of the day is surreal,” Cushnie said. “It’s a treat just to get out of the studio.”

Following lunch, keynote speaker Nina Garcia nursed a sore throat but reminisced about getting her start as an intern at Perry Ellis for a certain designer who showed a certain grunge collection. “Be your boldest, most out-of-the-box self,” she advised the gathered designers, counsel her one-time boss would undoubtedly second. Linda Fargo and Francisco Costa shared the podium to announce the winner of the womenswear award—luckily, as it turned out, since Costa almost missed the second name on the card. Joseph Altuzurra and Peter Hidalgo took home joint honors, a recognition that left Hidalgo visibly stunned. “It’s a very strange sensation,” he admitted. “I am somehow more nervous now.” For his part, Altuzarra was thinking about the clothes. “We’re moving away from the seventies,” he said of his next collection. “But it’s the same woman—very strong.” Hey, if it ain’t broke…